Stock futures pointed to a higher start for markets in Canada’s largest centre on Wednesday as oil prices recovered due to the prospect of OPEC and other major producers cooperating to tackle a supply glut.
The S&P/TSX composite index tumbled 252.75 points, or 2%, to close Tuesday’s session at 12,282.65. March futures Wednesday advanced close to 1%
The Canadian dollar eked up 0.05 cents U.S. to 72.17 cents early Wednesday.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd said on Tuesday it planned to seek support from Norfolk Southern Corp's shareholders to push the U.S. railroad's board to engage in takeover talks.
CIBC cut the rating on Canaccord Genuity Group to sector perform from outperform
Barclays raised the price target on Teck Resources to $5.00 from $4.00, with an underweight rating
CIBC cut the rating on Lake Shore Gold to sector perform from outperform.
Overseas, Iran's oil minister said Tehran was ready to negotiate with Saudi Arabia and the Kremlin's oil tsar Igor Sechin proposed that producing countries reduce output by one million barrels per day - without saying whether non-OPEC member Russia would cut production.
ON BAYSTREET
The TSX Venture Exchange closed negative 2.76 points Tuesday to 505.49
ON WALLSTREET
U.S. stock futures are ticking higher, as a rebound in banking stocks and stronger oil prices could make for calmer markets Wednesday.
Ahead of the opening bell, futures for the Dow Jones Industrials jumped 151 points, or 1%, to 16,110, futures for the S&P 500 moved higher 22.25 points, or 1.2%, to 1,870.5. NASDAQ futures climbed 67.25 points, or 1.7%, to 4,011.5.
Disney shares were down as much as 6% during extended trading after an earnings update, even though it revealed its ESPN television network gained subscribers and "Star Wars" gave the studio record box office totals.
Analysts were expecting better. Shares in chip designer Arm Holdings are down 2% in London after reporting earnings in line with expectations. The smartphone supplier has suffered recently along with Apple shares.
Companies reporting ahead of the open include Humana and Time Warner. Among the companies that investors will hear from this afternoon are Cisco, Prudential, Whole Foods, Tesla and Twitter.
Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen starts two days of testimony on Capitol Hill. Markets are looking for clues as to whether the Fed will raise interest rates again this year.
Japan markets sank again but European indexes were rising as banks recovered from a beating earlier this week.
Oil prices hiked 67 cents to $28.61 U.S. a barrel
Gold prices dipped 28 cents to $1,188.85 U.S. an ounce.
